Indonesians move closer to final of men's doubles
Indonesians move closer to final of men's doubles
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian men's doubles teams booked their
semifinal places and moved closer to setting up an all-Indonesian
encounter for the title at the Badminton World Grand Prix Finals
in Brunei Darussalam on Thursday.
The two Indonesian pairs beat Danish opponents for their
second straight win in their respective group matches.
Olympic gold medal winners Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan had
little trouble in taming second seeds Martin Lundgaard Hansen and
Lars Paaske 7-3, 7-1, 7-0 in just 13 minutes in their Group B
match at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium.
"We did not give them the chance of taking offensive
initiatives as we pushed them to their backcourt from the
beginning," Tony told The Jakarta Post over the phone.
Tony also attributed his team's victory to the advantageous
court.
"Today we played in Court 3 which is less affected by strong
winds coming out of the air conditioners. We had a no problems in
controlling the shuttlecock," he said.
Playing in Group A, Indonesian makeshift team of Halim
Haryanto and Sigit Budiarto were forced to stretch muscles before
sealing a 7-0, 8-6, 0-7, 7-1 win over top seeds Michael Sogaard
and Jim Laugesen in 43 minutes.
"I am sure that we have a great chance to set up an All-
Indonesian final on Sunday. But it will depend on Saturday's
semifinals," said Tony after the match.
The cross-over semifinals on Saturday will pit the Group A
winner against the Group B runner-up and the Group B winner
against the Group A runner-up.
In the mixed doubles, Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti Timur also
had a tough time in defeating the Chinese pairing of Chen Qiqiu
and Chen Ling. Losing the second game, Tri and Minarti went on to
post an 8-6, 5-7, 8-6, 8-7 win.
World champion Hendrawan was no less exhausted after being
forced to play five sets by China's Luo Yigang, whom the
Indonesian finally beat 7-4, 4-7, 0-7, 7-4, 7-2.
"I played just as I used to even when I lost the second and
third sets. Everybody can lose a game and it's no big deal," he
told the Post.
In Group C, Indonesian Open winner Marlev Mainaky defeated
Richard Vaughn of Wales 7-0, 7-3, 3-7, 7-2 in 29 minutes, also
for a second win.
"I lost the third game when I let my guard down and Richard
grabbed the chance. Besides, the air conditioner made it harder
to control the shuttlecock," he told the Post.
"The rest was just the usual. I played offensively with a lot
of net approaches."
Second-string shuttler Budi Santoso, however, failed to
produce another surprise when he was beaten 2-7, 1-7, 5-7 in 37
minutes by Xia Xuanze of China in Group A.
Women's singles Ellen Angelina also failed to match top seed
Zhou Mi of China and lost 4-7, 1-7, 2-7 in 25 minutes.
Another Indonesian women's shuttler, Lidya Djaelawijaya had a
day off and will resume playing on Friday against fourth seed
Gong Zhicao of China. The winner of this match will qualify for
the semifinals. (nvn)